Aviva Premiership - Round 22

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Sat 7th May 16 15:30

Bath Rugby  v   Leicester Tigers
Gloucester Rugby  v   Northampton Saints BT Sport
Harlequins  v   Exeter Chiefs BT Sport
Newcastle Falcons  v   Sale Sharks
Wasps  v   London Irish
Worcester Warriors  v   Saracens


Matters at the top and bottom of the table are pretty much sorted. London Irish are relegated and unlikely to be reprieved by Bedford, while in the play-offs Saracens will host Leicester and Exeter and Wasps will meet. The only thing to be decided is the venue for that second semi final.  Meanwhile seven of the sides know this will be the end of their seasons. BT Sport have chosen to concentrate on the matches that will dictate who take the last spots in the ECC for 2016/17.

Sale hurt their chances of making the top 6 last Friday with a disappointing defeat at home to Gloucester. They need to travel across the country to Newcastle, secure a win against a Falcon's team playing only for pride and hope other matches go in their favour. Quins host an Exeter Chiefs team that knows they probably need to win if they are to secure a home semi with Wasps. Meanwhile Quins have a final against Montpelier the following week that offers them both a chance at silverware and a second shot at ECC qualification. Finally Saints travel to Gloucester who continue to confound. With both sides misfiring it could be a game the revolves around goal-kicking and referee interpretations.

I expect wins for Sale, Exeter and Saints - meaning Quins will have to beat Montpelier to play in the Champions Cup next season.

In the other games Leicester travel to a Bath side who have had an appalling season and will hope to at least end on a positive note. Wasps host relegated Irish and will look to pick themselves up from what was perhaps their worst display of the season at Sandy Park. The United Nations of Worcester host what will probably be a second string Saracen's team.

Probably 3 home wins in these fixtures with much changed teams involved.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:If you live in the UK you cannot get much further from sea water than Northampton.

And when one eventually gets through the traffic to Newquay, for instance, one quickly learns there Britain ain't your typical tropical island......

ouch sounds like Chiefs are on fire. Just watching bbc text Sat here enjoying the sun in deutschland.

That was terrible defence from the Bath mid field there.

Some excellent play from Tigers in first half (foirst two minutes excepted)

Mallinder has made both of Saints tries.

JP Doyle has ruined what is already a scrappy match.

Hibbard has hit his man once in about 10 lineouts

Gloucester playing very well even with a touch of luck on occasions, officials missing a lot of little things they should be pulling up if the other side gain an advantage.

Bath must be feeling pretty humiliated. Three tries to one down against Tigers second team (completely changed pack from last weekend). Radio making it sound like Tigers have been taking control and our young openside prospect is putting in another good display.

A couple of subs made by Bath and their senior players imposing themselves some more and this looks a different game suddenly.

Ben Youngs going off has made an immediate difference as well. He needs to be protected for the semi and Kitto needs game time so it's a fair decision but he was looking back to his best for the first half.

It's a nothing game for both sides. Great to see some of our squad players playing with real pride and passion. Bath have a lot of talent in what is the strongest team they can name and now they've remembered that then they are doing what we all predicted initially.

What did I just see?

A tragic, but oddly fitting way to finish CoS's career at home for Quins.

Well done Exeter, you were utterly unstoppable.

The Harrison v Kvesic face-off at Kingsholm rather fizzled out. While I thought the Glaws back row as a unit maybe just shaded things, Tom wood was the stand-out performer for me.

Always good to get another win over tigers, even though it was their second team. Gave the fans one little thing to cheer about in a terrible season. Good luck to tigers in playoffs.

Struggle to see how Roko isn't the 2nd best winger in England. Will be amazing if he doesn't tour

Bathite wrote:Always good to get another win over tigers, even though it was their second team. Gave the fans one little thing to cheer about in a terrible season. Good luck to tigers in playoffs.

Struggle to see how Roko isn't the 2nd best winger in England. Will be amazing if he doesn't tour

Bath were much more physical in the second half which paid dividends. As always Roku looked good ball in hand, but defensive positioning was poor. I firmly believe he is behind, in alphabetical order, Ashton, Nowell & Watson for England.

LondonTiger wrote:The Harrison v Kvesic face-off at Kingsholm rather fizzled out. While I thought the Glaws back row as a unit maybe just shaded things, Tom wood was the stand-out performer for me.

So we can all agree Evans for England

Welly wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:The Harrison v Kvesic face-off at Kingsholm rather fizzled out. While I thought the Glaws back row as a unit maybe just shaded things, Tom wood was the stand-out performer for me.

So we can all agree Evans for England

2023 RWC sure, with Underhill at 6

LondonTiger wrote:

Welly wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:The Harrison v Kvesic face-off at Kingsholm rather fizzled out. While I thought the Glaws back row as a unit maybe just shaded things, Tom wood was the stand-out performer for me.

So we can all agree Evans for England

2023 RWC sure, with Underhill at 6

Clifford at 8? That's a dynamic back row that would get stuck in at the breakdown.

I hope they include Evans in the squad for next week even if BOC is fit. We've looked so much better with multiple open side options on the park and Evans offers pace and skill.

well that was a horrible score to wake up to

What ever you do don't watch it, there is literally no silver lining.

If anything that score line flatters Quins

For Saints, another mediocre game, fortunately won, which I suppose mirrors the entire season. A fifth place overall league finish is perhaps the right place. One one hand, if Saints had not lost to London Irish, Worcester, and Newcastle, they would likely have been a playoff team, not that they would have defeated Sarries, Wasps, and/or Exe or Leicester. But not to be and change is needed. Glad we are still playing Euro Rugby, but hopefully next season is not so underwhelming.

Mallinder has been in charge now for 9 seasons, with Doreen alongside him for the entire time. Have they grown stale?

Watched highlights, will take consolation in Slade and Nowell looking sharp.

Very poor from quins, thought we were over the malaise that started with COS announcing his departure, but there were a lot of bodies looking forward to finishing the season, dreadful tackling.

LondonTiger wrote:Mallinder has been in charge now for 9 seasons, with Doreen alongside him for the entire time. Have they grown stale?

hard to say.  The team has usually performed extremely well under Mallinder and West (Doreen indeed!).  Their level of play was good to very good up until the mid point of last season.  Then there was a drop off to the current level which they maintained for the last season-and-a-half.  To me, the coaching team have earned the credibility and the benefit of the doubt to have the time to go out and fix things.  Certainly there were injuries.  But also weird decisions (the Burrell-Pisi midfield).  Let's see what next season brings.  No reason to over-react.  Yet.  

If all else fails, we can bring Andy Goode out of retirement from his favourite doughnut shop...........